Messier 92

cluster

Messier 92 — one of the oldest and most metal-poor globular clusters known (~13.2 billion years, among the oldest known), ~27,000 light-years away in Hercules, ~330,000 stars.

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Science

Classification

Type: Globular star cluster
Distance: ~26,700 light-years
Diameter: ~110 light-years
Age: ~13.2 billion years · among the oldest known (VandenBerg et al. 2013)

How we know

Note: A real Hubble image at M92's real position; ~110 ly across, shown enlarged as a marker, as seen from Earth.

Discovery & history

Name: Messier's 92nd catalogue entry.

Discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1777; independently by Messier in 1781.

Images

Messier 92 — one of the oldest globular clusters known (Hubble) — ESA/Hubble & NASA (CC BY 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons

Images from open archives · credit shown per image